Top lighter



a gzy 55 F '7 5 8a 0 n -T. arvin r V ORN Y T. MARVIN ET AL TOP LIGHTER Filed Feb. 19, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTORS Birchard L-Matthe A ri!26,1938. J. T. MARVIN ETAL 2,115,370-

TOP LIGHTER Filed Feb. 19, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS- B irchard L.Ma. tthews Patented Apr. 26, 1938 I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TOP LIGHTER John '1'. Marvin and Birchard L. Matthew s, Cleveland, Ohio, assignors to The Patrol Valve Company, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation 01' Ohio Application February 19, 1934, Serial No. 711,972

6 Claims. (Cl. 158 -115) This invention relates to ignition devices and nary blue flame type and comprises a body l9 particularly to ignition devices used for igniting having a suitable oriflce in the gas passage therethe burners of a gas range from a constantly inthrough which gas flows from tube l5 to pro-' burning pilot in which the pilot is spaced some vide a flame at upper end or the burner within the 5 distance from the burner or burners to be ignited. housing ll. Suitable adjusting means, as the 5 .This invention resides in the, features of novelty needle valve 24 shown, may be provided for described and claimed herein and disclosed in the regulating this pilot burner. Also, there may be accompanying drawings wherein: employed an adjustable air shutter 28 to produce Fig. 1 is a plan view of a portion of the top of a the proper mixture of gas and air at the burner.

1 gas range showing the ignition device in oper- Lock nut 24' illustrated is used to fix the adjust-' ative relation to a burner. I ment of the needle valve 24 in the housing I9. Fig. 2 is a vertical elevation partly in section, The upper part of the valve body H has a taken on the line 2-2 01 Fig. 1 and showing dereduced portion externally screw-threaded as intails of the ignition device. dicated at 33 for receiving and supporting the Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the device shown in circular base. plate 34' of the pilot housing. The 15 Fig. 3, with a portion of the pilot housing broken periphery of theplate 34 is turned upward to away. provide a flange 35. The plate supports a cone- Fig. 4 is a vertical'section taken on the line 4--4 .shaped member 35 disposed around the pilot of Fig. 3 and shown on an enlarged scale the flame and is provided with a plurality of ports 31 construction of the outer tip of the flash tube. between the cone and its periphery and other Fig. 5 is a bottom plan view of the outer end of ports 38 between the cone and pilot burner. The

a flash tube taken on line 5-5 oi Fig. 2, but with former ports insure an adequate supply of air to the burner omitted. the pilot housing and'the latter ports 'a similar- Fig. 6 is a view partly in section showing ansupplyto the pilot burner. The primary function other mounting 'for the flash tube in the pilot of the cone 36 is to serve as a stack or chimney 25 housing. for the pilot burner'whereby controlled oxidation Fig. '1 is a top plan view partly broken away, of and greater burning emciency are obtained. the pilot housing shown in Fig. 6.. The pilot housing comprises an inverted cup- Fig. 8 is a view taken on line 8-4 of Fig-6, shaped member 33 that engages the flange 35 of 80 showing another tip construction. the base plate 34 snugly and is supported thereby.

Figs. 9 and 10 are vertical views, partly in sec- The top of the member 33 is provided witha plution through pilot housings showing modified rality of openings 40 for the free flow of air and forms of mountings for the inner ends of the flash the products of combustion therethrough. tubes, and other details of the pilot housing and The peripheral wall of the member 39 is protube support, and vided with a plurality of properly spaced hori- 35 Fig. 11, is an elevational view of the chimney zontally elongated slots 4| here shown as four in or guard for the pilot burner shown in Fig. 10. number. Each of these slots receives the reduced Referring to the drawings for a detailed deinner end 42 of a cylindrical sleeve 43, and is adscription of the invention, in Fig. 1 are shown justably held in place in the slot by means of a 40 details of the general set up of the lighter. In dished member 44 disposed inside the pilot hous- 40 this figure, Ill designates the manifold of a gas ing and which has a central flange slidably range, l2 indicates one of the burners and i3 a mounted over the reduced portion 42 of sleeve 43.

' gas and air mixing tube that mixes the gas from After the member 44 has been properly placed, the the mains with air, and conducts the mixture inner end ofthe reduced portion 42 is swaged 45 from the manifold to the burner. A gas cock l4 over as indicated at 45, thus malntaining'member 45 controls the flow of gas from the manifold to the 44 in flxed position with respect to the sleeve 43. burner l2. Atube l5 conducts gas from the mani- The member 44 is large enough to cover the slot fold to a constant pilot burner l5 enclosed in a 4| regardless of the horizontal or vertical adjusthousing I1 and this tube l5 also is designed as a ment of the sleeve 43 with respect to the pilot support for the pilot burner. A tube I3 connects housing. The slot 4! is considerably larger than 50 the burner I2 with the'pilot housing for conveying the reduced portion 42 of the sleeve 43 which exa gas mixture from the burner to the pilot It for tends therethrough, thereby allowing considerable ignition, as will be more fully explained hereinroom for universal adjustment oi. the sleeve with after. respect to the housing to take care of various The pilot burner I 8 illustrated is one of an ordiconditions of installation. It will further be seen so that by virtue of this adjustment, the tubes are unrestricted by the position ofthe pilot housing, and will project radially into same-even though it be rotated somewhat about its base. Furthermore, accommodation is thus provided for unequal spacing of the flash tubes. As has been pointed out, the sleeve U, or as in other figures, the inner portion of the flash tube-is narrowed into=a' neck. This produces a more concentrated mixture of gas adjacent the pilot flame; and acts to give an improved quality of ignition.

The sleeve 0 receives the inner end of the cylindrical tube It with a. sliding flt as indicated at 41 thus allowing adjustment of the length of the tube with respectto the burner l2 and the pilot housing II. This sliding fit also permits insertion of the tubes where the space in which they fit is restricted, such as when they must be inserted from beneath the burner. .The tube I.

.may be rolled from a single piece of sheet metal with its edges joining at the lower side asindicated at a. Y

The lower part of the outer end of the tube 18' is bifurcated to provide two arms ll which support the tip 49 carrying the L-shaped gas port II. The lower end of. the tip 49 is cone-shaped and is received in a drilled opening 5| having straight. sides provided in the burner ii. The tip is se-'- curely retained between the arms. 48 by having. portions 52 swaged over the edges of the arms. The arms ll are long enough to leave a space '3 between the-tip 49 and the adjacent end of the tube II which space serves as apart for admitting air to the tube It where it mixes with the gas passing up the tube from the port 50 to the pilot burner. The upper part 54 of the outer end of tube I8 is tapered and overhangs the tip 48 and port 53, serving .to produce air currents that direct gas from. port 50 into the tube, and to protect the parts from substance that might be spilled on them. 1

The L-shaped port 50 comprises two communicatingpassages 50a and 501;, the port 50a extending in a substantially vertical direction and the port Ilb in a substantially horizontal direction. The port 50b is preferablyofsmallerdiameter than the port "a so that the fuel issues therefrom with an increased velocity. It will be noted that the axis of port 50 is such that fuel issuing therefrom does not pass directly up the axisof tube II, but

- rather impinges against the lower part of the tube and is deflected thereby, thus causing a turbulence which assists in the successful flashing of the mixture in the tube. Further, .the position of this e prevents the flame issuing therefrom from impinging against the guard 54 after the burner 12 is ignited, and thereby overheating the guard. It will be observed that the flame from Sllb'will not impinge on guard 54. Operation 0;! the device'as shown in Figs. 156

The pilot valve is constantly open. Gas flows through tube II into chamber 2 I, whence it passes in a pressure jet through orifice 20, the size of which is controlled by needle 22 and maintained by, lack nut-242; The pressure or injection jet of gas emitted from oriflce 22 draws air. in through ports 25, and it mixes with this air in chamber 28. In chamber 26, turbulenceisproduced .by the eflect of constriction 21, resultingin avertical isuance of gas in a jet from port 21 of nozzle", This Jet .is mixed with secondary. air coming through chimney II, and is ignited.

When the'gas cock I4 is turned "on, a mixture of air and gas is supplied to the burner I! through the tube l3 and issued from the burner ports 55. Some of the mixture passes through port II, and through the tube l8 after being mixed with additional, air drawn in through port 53, to the pilot burner I6 where it is ignited. There is an immediate flash-back through the tube which is directed over the surface of. the main burner l2 and ignites the mixture issuing from the ports 55. The restricted portion 42 has the eflect of impeding the flow of gas from the tube It to the pilot burner and also concentrating the gas adjacent the pilot, thus insuring combustion. Apparently it also serves to prevent the explosion in tube II from blowing out the pilot.

The modifications illustrated in Figs. 6 to 11 inclusive are directed to other methods of mount- ,ing the inner end of the flash tubef or the sleeve corresponding to sleeve 43 of the embodiment previously described, in the pilot housing, and to other constructional features.

flanged inner end 51' inside the housing flfand is retained in position by an ear 59 cut from the top of the housing and bent downwardly. The opening ill thus formed serves as an air passage similar to the openings 40 of. the first embodiment.

In thisembodiment, the tube I 8. is shown as having a tip 49 having a substantially-vertical fuel passage 50c and a plurality of cooperating substantially horizontal fuel passages 50d of relatively small diameter. As shown in Fig. 9 the passages lld may be formed by inserting a piece of stock We of the general design of a small gear in a passage 50! of relatively large diameter..

Referring to Figs. 6 and 7, the sleeve 56 has a in the tube ll. The plurality of. small ports 50d insures against flash-back and an explosion in the bowlof the associated burner l2, but at the same time provides the same quantity of gas and substantially the same pressure thereof, as does the tip shown in Fig. 4.

In the form shown in Fig. 9 two ears 6| are cut out of the bottom of the tube or sleeve 62 and bent downwardly. The side wall of the housing 03 is provided with a circular opening and a cooperating horizontal opening 65.,

When the tube is inserted the inner ear is passed through the opening 85 and the tube is then rotated 90. The ears 6| are so spaced as to'allow adjustment of the tube with respect to the,housing. By means of such adjustment the necessity of 'using the sleeve connection heretofore de-;

scribed is obviated. Another mariner of mounting the pilot casing II and cone-shaped, chimney member I2 is shown in this figure. The upper end '01 pilot burner i6 screw-threadedlysupports a small 'circular'plate ll carrying the conical chimney member I2 and provided ery with an upturned flange ll. The casingll is provided in its lower or bottom portionwith an opening 18 large enough to flt'over the conical member I2. There is provided at thetperip'hery of opening 10 a groove I1 for receiving the flange I! provided on plate 13 whereby the plate 13 supports the casing ll. With this construction at its periph the casing-1| and its associated flash tubes may be radially removed from the'range.

In the embodiment shown 'in Flg. .10 the ci r-. ular opening '0 in the wall of the pilot housing I1 a pin ll projecting u wardly and bent slightly outward. This pin may conveniently be cut out of the housing wall. The sleeve or tube 10 has a hole 69 at its inner end through which the pin 68 projects. This construction forms a pivot mounting allowing lateral and vertical adjustment of the outer end of the flash tube. In this construction the conical chimney member I8 is supported from the top of the casing 19 by means of two upwardly extending straps joined at their upper ends by a flat portion 8| which is in turn secured to the top of casing 19 by any suitable means such as a rivet 82. The straps 80 are not wide enough to interfere with the successful operation of the lighter, and by the construction shown the conical member about the pilot burner is removed with the easing 19, thus rendering this burner readily accessible for cleaning.

In the illustration we have given, we have shown the device used on a gas system. It is obvious that the construction could be used with other systems than gas, such as oil or the like.

It is equally clear that the use of a gas pilot isbut one application, and the pilot employed could be any one providing a means of ignition forthe fuel from the burners. We would suggest an electric pilot, as illustrations of this last adaptation. Accordingly where the claims refer to a pilot, it is intended that the term shall be generic; and where they refer to a burner, a like interpretation is intended,

We claim:-

1. In a device of the kind described, a flash tube, a pair of spaced arms extending in a generally axial direction from one end of said tube, and a. fuel jet embraced by and secured in said arms adjacent their outer ends.

2. In a device of the kind described, a flash tube, a pair of spaced arms extending in a generally axial direction from one end of said tube, and a fuel jet embraced by and secured in said arms, said jet being spaced adjacent the outer element fixedly mounted between the outer portions of said two projections, and another of said projections extending from said tube end so as to at least partially overlie said jet.

4. A flash tube device of the character described, comprising a sheet metal tubular element having a pair of integrally formed longitudinally extending spaced projections at one end, each of said projections extending from ad-' jacent the longitudinal edges of said tube, and a jet element mounted between the outer ends of said projections, and said jet element having means along its sides to receive said projections;

5. A flash tube device of the character described, comprising a sheet metal tubular element having a pair of integrally formed longitudinally extending spaced projections at one end, each of said projections extending from adjacent the longitudinal edges of said tubes, and a jet element mounted between the outer ends of said projections, and said jet having longitudinal recesses in its opposite'sides to receive said projections, the portions of said jet bounding said recesses being peened over onto said projections.

6. In a device of the kind described, a sheet metal flash tube, a pair of spaced arms integral therewith extending in a general axial direction from one end of the tube, a fuel jet positioned adjacent the outer ends of said arms, and means for fixedly securing said jet to said arms.

JOHN T. MARVIN. BIRCI-IARD L. MATTHEWS. 

